Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father
-Philippians 2:5-11
Last night in small group, we watched a movie called “God Grew Tired of Us.” It follows the story of three Lost Boys of Sudan. It is worth seeing if you haven’t. I rented it from Blockbuster. It is a documentary on their lives as they fled Sudan, spent years as refugees in Kenya, and then were given the opportunity to come to the U.S. As much as it is a documentary on their lives, in my mind, it is also commentary on the life we live in America.
One of the things that struck me is that they did not understand who Santa was and what He had to do with Christmas. Santa, Christmas trees, etc are not in the Bible, but no one they asked could explain to them what they had to do with Christmas. One of them commented that they spend the weeks prior to Christmas preparing their hearts.
Please understand that I am not against some of the traditions that we, in Western culture have developed for Christmas. I just wondered after watching the movie how often we let these traditions override the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Christmas seemed to sneak up on me this year and I find myself ill prepared. Sure, I have presents to give, but have I given of myself? I am grateful for a few days to rest, but wondering why I let so many “things” crowd my heart. I wonder if I am worshipping or merely going through the motions.
My Lord and Savior became nothing. He became the most vulnerable form of human possible and, as a man, He died that I might live. You would think my response would be to honor him with all that I am in everything I do. My confession is that too often, I do go through the motions. I’m sure you have gifts to give this Christmas too, but what gift do you bring to the Savior?